


Warm Ice - Jack Frost x Reader

by NoorTheHood



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Love, Magic, Reader-Insert, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-01 05:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4007383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoorTheHood/pseuds/NoorTheHood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You were a normal girl.<br/>He was unseen by others.<br/>You did not believe, but he did.<br/>He saved you, you saw him.<br/>And you fell for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (Intro chapter)

“Can you not?” Your mother yelled from the living room. “How many times do I have to tell you? DON’T DRINK IT STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE!”

“Yeah, yeah.” You said as you put the milk bottle back in the fridge. “ _I’ll drink it gay from the bottle, then_.” You whispered, rolling your eyes.

She gave you her usual deadly stare.

“Don’t roll your eyes on me.”

“Alright, alright.” You turned your back and rolled your eyes again.

From the kitchen’s window, you could see how wonderful the weather was outside. Not too cold: not too warm either…The perfect winter day. And the streets were full of snow! How good was that? You went trotting toward the front door when you saw your little brother walking distractedly, his game console in hand.

As always.

“Hey, Abe” You said cheerfully, poking his belly. “Want to go get some fresh air? I’m going to the corner store, maybe you could come with―”

“No thanks.” He replied, is eyes stuck on the small screen.

You pinched his cheek, trying to take his console away. “What about the park then? It was freezing last night. You love playing hockey, don’t you? I’ll be in the goals and you could―”

“Are you deaf? I said no. Let me go.” The little boy replied, without even looking up.

“Leave him alone, (y/n).”

Startled, you put on your winter boots and your coat, opened the door and left without a sound. You couldn’t believe it. You knew that teenagers your age were always stuck on their electronic devices, but…kids? Your brother wasn’t even 10 yet. At that age, children should go out, breathe, and play with other kids…In short: live a kid’s life! Especially during winter. You thought that winter was the perfect season to have fun with your friends: what’s better than a long, quiet walk in the snow? Or a snowball fight..? Well, your friends weren’t very open to your ideas. And it wasn’t really possible to have a snowball fight with yourself. You reached the park, and you sat on a bench near the skating rink. It was around 6 PM, but the sky was already dark and you could already see the moon, even hidden behind the few fluffy clouds. You smiled. You wished you could sleep on a cloud…

“You gonna bite the dust, Steven!” You heard someone yelling behind your shoulder.

It sounded like some kids playing tag. You turned your head to take a look, when…

…a snowball landed brutally on your face.

A group of kids barely your brother’s age came running, their faces all red because of the cold and the effort. It was good to see that some children were still enjoying the fresh atmosphere of a winter evening.

“Oh, uh, sorry ma’am! We, uh, we didn’t mean to…”

Removing the snow from your face, you stood up, laughing.

“It’s all right kiddo.” You looked at the little boy, then at his friends. “Hey, uh…” You hesitated a second.

“Can I join you? It’s kind of boring out here alone, you know…”

The kid kept staring at you in silence, then looked back at his friends.

"Well, um..." You crossed your arms. _“…I’ll be the target_?”

A bright smile appeared on the kids’ faces.

“Fine! But don’t complain if snow gets inside your coat!”

“Got it, kiddo.” As you saw the kids making their snowball, an evil smile appeared on their faces. “W-wait a sec, kids, I―”

“FIRE!"


	2. Chapter 2

The whistling wind was becoming stronger. The evening was dark, but you could still hear the soft laughter of children, as joyful as chimes ringing during Christmas. Only the streetlights and the moon illuminated the park in its dark torpor.

The ground, now frozen, allowed passersby to show off their equilibrist skills, while the author of those weather changes took delight in the spectacle.

The young man sat on the ledge of a nearby house, watching the surroundings with a careful eye. “When kids go to sleep, everything gets boring.”

He sighed, jumped on top of the roof and examined around.

“Come here, you little dwarves!” He heard someone yell. Turning around, he saw a young woman running after a group of kids. Her (h/c) hair was sparkled with snowflakes, and she looked kind of mad.

“What the hell…” He jumped off the roof with grace and agility, landing on a squishy layer of snow.

The kids came running and literally went through him. “ _Of course_.” He sighed again, a sad note in his voice. The girl, breathless, tried to catch up the children, in vain.

“Please, wait!” She cried. “Your parents are going to kill me if they hear you’re still outside!” A little boy turned to face her and made a raspberry.

“Our parents don’t care! They’re always at work anyway.” The kid took a handful of snow, made a snowball and threw it on her.

“OUCH! Please, guys, I’m exhausted, and it’s almost 8 o’clock! You must―”

She received another snowball, this time coming from the young invisible man.

“Take that, you grown-up.”

The snow on her face gave her a funny look, and the young man couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay. You want to play this game, alright. But I’m warning you.” She said, evilly. “My legs are two times the size of yours. And I know this neighborhood better than any of you. So if you are planning to run away…” She removed her coat, threw it on the side of the street, and she was left wearing only a (f/c) wool sweater.

“You better start running now!” She yelled at them while starting to run. A blast of laughter came from the kids while they sprinted to get away from her.

After making sure that the kids were gone, the girl sat on the sidewalk and took a deep breath. The young man, surprised, sat on a tree branch behind her. “Well, that was fiendish.” He told himself. “You sent them into a dead-end. Very clever.” Still on the tree, he started playing with some ice crystals hanging on the small branches, making them fall one after another, creating a soft melody. __________________________________________________________________________________

You heard some ice crystals falling behind you, letting out a small gasp of surprise. You were really exhausted, and you wished the kids came back the fastest possible so you could go home and take a nap. At least you didn’t have school, since you were on winter holidays, but it wasn’t a reason to deprive yourself from getting your nightly 10 hours of sleep…

“YOU TRICKED US!” You heard from your right. “Wha-“You jumped on your feet. “Already?” You thought.

“YOU’RE GONNA PAY FOR IT, (y/n)!” Another kid shouted.

“Wait, kiddo, don’t run in the middle of the street!” You started walking in their direction.

“You thought you could fool us! But you won’t catch any of us!”

You smiled. “Yeah, right, Steven. Now go on the sidewalk…”

As you were walking in their direction, two small glowing lights appeared in the distance, and you realized they were headlights.

“Okay, really, get off the street―”

“Don’t stop running guys! She’s tricking us again!” The other kids, noticing the car behind them, went quickly on the sidewalk.

“Steve, she’s not kidding! Come!” You ran in his direction as the car got closer.

The shouting drew the white-haired young man’s attention. “What’s happen―” He narrowed his eyes to see you and the kids, running in the distance. Then he saw the car and jumped on his feet. “WHOA, hold on a second―”

“STEVEN, IT AIN’T NO JOKE! THERE’S A CAR BEHIND YOU!”

The smile on the kid’s face disappeared. He slowly turned around then froze, as hypnotized by the car’s headlights. It seemed like the driver did not see the kid, and he continued on his way, going faster and faster.

Then everything went like in a dream.

You, crossing the street in a flash, Jumping on Steve The car hitting you in a split second What you couldn’t see, thought, was the white haired boy who, with his wooden staff, launched a blue flash on the ground beneath the car, which made it deviate from its trajectory, then brake brutally.

Then, everything became dark.


	3. Chapter 3

You slowly opened your eyes.

Your arms, your legs, your back…everything was aching. Even your hair was hurting you.

Opening your eyes more widely, you realized that you were in your room. You could see the sunny sky from the window, and also hear the monotone sound of the television in the living room.

“What the hell happened?...”

You let out a gasp of surprise as your feet touched the carpet of your room: the pain wasn’t unbearable, but it felt like you literally forgot how to walk.

“(y/n)? Are you awake?” You heard your father yell. “Is everything alright?”

You heavily walked down the stairs, a hand on your forehead, trying to remember what happened the day before: you could recall jumping on Steven to prevent him from being hurt…Then you saw the car zigzagging and stopping its course. Yes, that was what happened. The driver probably called an ambulance, but why were you at home? Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?

Your mother, seeing you walking into the kitchen, smiled and gave you a kiss. “Good morning, honey.” She said, pouring coffee in her tumbler. “Are you feeling okay? The doctor said you’d be fine, you just have a wrist sprain.”

You rubbed your eyes.

“The doctor?”

She chuckled. “Yes, the one we met at the hospital. Didn't you take a look at your calendar?”

You shook your head.

“You slept three days, honey.”

You opened your mouth. “THREE DAYS?”

Your mother laughed. “Look, I don’t have the time to talk. The doctor said we had nothing to worry about. In a few days you’ll be healthy as a horse!” She took her coat and opened the front door, bringing a cool breeze inside the house.

“I’ll see you tonight, dear.” And she left with your father without a word, leaving you standing in the middle of the hallway.

_________________________________________________________________________

The young man jumped from roof to roof, looking inside the windows of each house.

“Darn it, where does she live?”

He stood on the eaves of a house.

“ _This girl is more unseeable than me_.”

He narrowed his piercing blue eyes, observing the surroundings, and let out a sigh.

“Why am I even doing this.” He whispered. Three days earlier, when the car hit that young woman and the little boy, he felt a sharp sensation of déjà vu. The fear in the child’s eyes, the anxiety in the girl’s voice…

He shook his head.

When the ambulance came, the girl was still unconscious. He heard that she was alright, but none of the ambulances noticed her coat on the side of the street. And as a gentleman (well, he was trying to be), he couldn’t ignore her courage and leave it there.

“That’s the least I can do. We’re both kids’ friends, huh…” He grinned.

“And when Jack Frost starts something…” He slid on the slope of the roof, reaching the aligners.

“…he always keeps going.”

And indeed, he kept going.

_________________________________________________________________________

You sat on the same bench as the last time, feeling the smooth touch of the snowflakes on your face.

Your mother has called you from work, telling you not to go out, that even if you were feeling well it wasn’t a good idea in your situation. You kept acquiescing, knowing very well that you weren’t going to keep your word anyway.

Before going out, you noticed that you totally forgot your cloak when you were running after the kids, so you took one of your old ones. It was a worn, (f/c) cloak, but it was thick enough to keep you warm all day.

Children were playfully running around with their parents, wrapped into their warm coats and scarves. The sky was bright blue and it was a beautiful day. But something was missing. You had a strange feeling about this. In the depths of your being, you could clearly tell that something was going on. It has never happened to you before. You weren’t some kind of psychic being, and you couldn’t tell the future, but…You really felt something.

You sighed. “That’s it. I’m going crazy.” You thought.

Chuckling, you stood up slowly on your feet. “Should’ve stayed home…”

All of sudden, your vision blurred and you overbalanced to your right.

"Wha…What the…" A sharp pain pierced your chest, and you let out a cry of pain.

You unsuccessfully attempted to regain your balance on the bench, and you heavily fell on the ground, on all fours. An unbearable tinnitus made you cringe, and you closed your eyes to attenuate the headache. You really felt like your head was going to explode.

"What’s happening…"

“Whoa there, little miss, are you okay?”

A voice came from beside you. The pain faded as fast as it came.

You wide opened your eyes and, taking support on the bench, slowly got up on your feet.

“I’m…I’m alright, thank you…”

Looking around, you realized nobody was there. You made a 360 degrees spin: still no one. You let out a cry of despair. “I’m losing my head…” ________________________________________________________________________

He gasped.

He just couldn’t believe it.

The girl facing him... Just talked to him.

For a second, he thought she wasn’t talking to him, that it was a mistake.

His eyes were wide open, just like his mouth.

His first reaction, thought…

Was to run away.


	4. Chapter 4

“A-TCHOO” You sneezed for the umpteenth time. “Maybe it wasn’t _such_ a great idea to go out with an old coat.” You thought. “Should’ve brought my scarf…”

You started coughing painfully, wiping your nose with your thousandth tissue of the day. Your throat was burning, and your lips were chapped.  
Your little promenade had turned into a hike of several hours, and you were discovering new corners of your neighborhood that were unknown to you until now. Even if your coat made you default, you were still grateful to be able to feel the chilly wind on your cheeks and hair.

You didn’t care about the snow in your boots or the fact that you couldn’t feels your toes anymore.   
Walking made your whole body feel lighter.

The clouds began to cover the sky, making you feel smothered. You started to walk faster.

“I should go back home…” You whispered to yourself while blowing your nose.

As you were turning around, you heard little furtive steps, as if a squirrel was promptly jumping from tree to tree. But you didn’t pay attention.

All you wanted was to go home and enjoy a warm cup of hot chocolate.

 

* * *

 

Jack couldn’t stop following the “coat girl”.

It was pretty easy though: she was as slow as a snail, and she wore a flashy, kind of lousy (f/c) winter coat. The sleeves were too short for her, and the collar did not even cover half of her neck. The back was stained with some kind of strange…substance. Worst of all, there was a huge hole in the middle of the hood.

And apparently, she was aware of the ugliness of her clothing: when she’d pass in front of a showcase, she would discreetly glance at her reflection and softly chuckle.

“At least”, he thought, “She has enough sense of humor to laugh of herself.”

She walked the whole day, stopping only to sit on a bench or to eat lunch, and she seemed to enjoy her hike. Even if she looked…kind of sick.

She’d cough or sniff every two minutes, and the amount of tissues she had used exceeded the normal average (Not that he’d habitually _count_ the number of tissues people used, but…well, yes, he did. It wasn’t like he really had something else to do.). Her nose was bright red and she had dark circles under her eyes. Also, he noticed she was often rubbing her wrist while wincing. Jack thought that maybe she got hurt when helping the little boy, few days ago.

He chuckled.

Yep, that girl was DEFINITELY _sick_.  
But he promised he would find a way to give her her coat back.

The young man followed her until she arrived near her home. Before she opened the door, he jumped in the backyard, landed on a slide and placed the girl’s coat on the edge of a frozen trampoline. He waited until she got in, and then sat behind a small tree, still in the girl’s backyard.

“Well, well…”

He grinned.

“Time to proceed to some…experiments.”  
______________________________________________________

You sighed as you felt the warmth on your face.  You quickly removed your cloak, boots and mittens, and jumped on the couch, closing your eyes. Without your mother, father or brother, the atmosphere of your house was so peaceful you could fall asleep just thinking about it…

You REALLY did like winter, but you could not deny the fact that you _loved_ the comfort of your domicile.

“ _Home sweet home_ , huh.” You whispered.

Half an hour later, while zapping through the channels of your television, you realized that you totally had forgotten why you actually came back home: _hot chocolate_. You quickly jumped on your feet and trotted to the kitchen, enjoying the fact that you could sing out loud without anyone minding. While pouring milk in your mug, you sang your lungs out your favorite song in the most dramatic way possible (you even improvised some dance moves to make it more fabulous).

You had just put your mug in the microwave when you heard someone knocking on the back door.

You frowned.

“For god’s sake, who would knock on the back door at this time of the day…”  
You ran to the door and opened it slowly, letting a cold wind into the house.

No one.

“What the…” You looked at your left, then at your right: still no one.

“Hey? If it’s a joke, it’s not funny okay?” You yelled.

It was getting darker and colder outside, and the snow was slowly falling, its puffy flakes covering the roofs of the neighborhood. The sight of the white-covered housetops made you think, somehow, of the old nursery tales you used to read in your childhood.

The first one that came to your mind was Peter Pan.

Since you were a little girl, you always had that one, very simple but unrealistic dream. You’ve always wished that one day, whenever it will be, you would be looking out the window when you’d see him. Floating slowly towards you. A naughty but adorable grin on his lips. Taking you into his arms and flying to a very, very far and unknown land.

_Your Peter._

Or whatever his name was.

But until the appropriate moment, you thought you shouldn’t really worry about that. After all, there were seven billion people in the world, and you were still young. Why would it bother you to be single? And all your life was not summed up to boys and clothing. You had your other little problems, and people had theirs. Your time just…hadn’t come yet.

_Even if you wished it would come soon._

As you were about to get back inside, something caught your attention on your trampoline (until then, you didn’t even notice your parents had forgotten to dismantle the thing).   
You put your boots back on and went closer.

“ _Wait, is that…_ ”

You slowly grabbed the thing and frowned, rubbing your arms to stay warm. Chuckling, you looked around.

“What the…Who brought this here?” You raised your eyebrows, laughing. “Well, whoever you are, that was very kind of you!”

You were heading back to the door when you heard someone giggle near the mulberry tree, close to the trampoline. Turning to face whoever was there, you received a snowball right between your eyes, making you fall on your back, letting out a scream of surprise.

“HEY! WHO DID THIS?” The snow slowly fell from your forehead, and you shook your head to make sure there weren’t any snowflakes in your hair. You sneezed.  
“Okay, this is really, really not funny. Just come out and let me thank you for bringing back my coat here, or stay where you are and let me kick your butt when the proper moment comes.”

You added, nervously. “You have five seconds.”

A burst of laughter was heard from beside the tree, followed by a soft voice.  
“Ah, missy… I knew that was impossible. What was I thinking.” The person let out a light chuckle.“Sorry for hurting you, if that were the case…”

“Oh, uh…it’s alright…”

The person suddenly stopped laughing.

“Uh, what?”

You frowned. “I-I said it’s alright, but can you _please_ show yourself, sir?” Your grip tightened on your coat.

“W…wait a second, y-you mean…” The stranger was stammering. He sounded kind of young.

Getting angry, your voice started shaking.

“Listen, sir, show yourself NOW or I call the cops.”

“But I… _I am right in front of you…_ ”

You laughed.   
“Yeah, right, mister ghost.” You took a deep breath. “Okay, you know what? I’m sick, and it’s kind of chilly out there, so I really, _really_ want to go back inside. So thank you, whoever you are, for bringing me my coat back, but I have some other stuff to do. I wish you understand.”

The stranger kept stammering, not sure to understand what was happening.

“ _Au revoir_ , sir.”

You ran back to the door, making sure no one was following you. After looking one last time behind you, you locked the doors, drew the curtains and kept the phone close to you. Because we never know.  
Nowadays, freaks were everywhere.


	5. Chapter 5

3 days had passed since the strange "backyard ghost" event. Everything went back to normal, and you weren't one to complain: you were pampered by your parents and you could eat as much food as you wanted. Your younger brother usually went playing video games at his friends' houses, which gave you A LOT of free time and the whole empty house to yourself. You realized being alone wasn't so boring.

And you also realized you were never alone, as you noticed the same voice you heard in your backyard was always following you when you weren't home.

You often heard _'the Voice'_ mumbling questions in your back, sometimes even laughing or talking to someone else, but you thought it was just the fever that accentuated the effects of the sequels of the accident. You never answered, thinking it would just make things worse. But lately you were having doubts on your sanity and were thinking if you should talk about it to someone. You decided to wait and see what would happen in the next few days, just to be sure you won't needlessly give your parents more work than they already had: if it didn't stop after one week, you'd tell everything.

You thought about doing some volunteering at the local library to change your mind, and your mother agreed to let you out even if you were still sick. It was a nice opportunity to read as many books as you wanted, you thought.

Once arrived, they immediately started giving you work: replacing books on shelves, scanning them, helping children find their picture books and older people with computers, etc. You did not expect that much work, but it was nice to move around a bit.

But something was still bothering you. You were constantly having a tingling feeling in your chest, and it was growing stronger as the days went by. Especially when _the Voice_ was around.

 _I should probably see a doctor_ , you thought.

 

* * *

 

The day went much slower than you expected, and you were overstrained. A whole day camp group came to visit the library and borrow books, so you had to help them all one by one as two of your colleagues were sick and no one else was available around.

As soon as you left the library, your instinctively headed to the neighborhood park, and took place on a bench facing the frozen fountain. 

You just sat there, staring into infinity, looking at the tiny and shiny crystallized water reflecting sun rays into a sea of sparkles. They looked like fireflies in the middle of the day. You kept staring silently, forgetting everything around you. Waiting for something. _  
_

_Anything_.

You took a little bottle of dark red liquid out of your pocket. Your cough had become weaker, but your forehead was still warm and your nose congested. The syrup you had to drink every three hours gave you nausea and you refused yourself to put the disgusting medicine in your mouth, so you just decided to rest a little on the bench. The weather wasn't too bad.

A noise was heard on your right, and you gasped a little. 

"It's now or never. Missy, for the last time. Can you _actually_ hear me or am I going nuts?" 

You let out an exhausted sigh, and so did the voice.

"Yes, I can hear you." You whispered, breaking the promise you made yourself to not answer. "But I know you're just in my head. I don't know what's happening to me. Are you real? Am I schizophrenic?"

The Voice seemed to have sat next to you on the bench.

"I don't know." It whispered. 

It hesitated for a second.

"Tell me..." It asked. "Have you ever heard of _Jack Frost_?" 

You raised an eyebrow.

"Jack Frost you say? Let me think..." The voice kept quiet as you searched for any information you'd have read in a book or heard on TV. You deduced it kept silent because you couldn't think of more than two things at the same time, maybe. "AH! I think so, yes."

You cleared your throat.

"It's a fictional villain in a series of children books, right?" You smiled. "In the _'Rainbow Magic'_ books, Jack Frost is an antagonist who wants to freeze Fairyland. He's accompanied by pesky goblins who steal fairies, and try to sabotage them. I read these books when I was a kid, and I even hated winter for a while because of that goddamn guy."

He (you decided to give the Voice masculine pronouns as its pitch was relatively low and manly) sighed and seemed to have stood up.

"Think more! I'm not talking about a character in a series!" His voice sounded desperate. "Please! Have you ever heard of _JACK FROST_ ?" He said, putting the emphasis on the name.

You searched again, deeper in your mind. A minute passed when it came back to you: you had seen that name somewhere in a mythology book at school, few years ago. You tried to remember all the details.

"Mmh...I think I've read something about some kind of guy who is responsible for nipping the noses and for the frosty patterns on our windows? Isn't it from like Norse mythology or―"

"DO YOU _BELIEVE_ IN THAT GUY?!" He desperately asked, a hint of hope and sadness in his tone. "Answer, _please_!"

Your heard skipped a beat as you felt two strong hands grabbing your shoulders from the front. Your eyes went huge and your mouth was wide open.

"Wha...How come my hands don't pass right through―"

A high-pitched scream broke the silence of the park. You screamed your lungs out for a second before the white-haired boy standing before you put his hand on your mouth, just as surprised as you. He removed it a few seconds later, making sure you were now calm.

"Why the hell are you screaming?!" He frowned and removed his hands from your shoulders. You let out a gasp as the boy disappeared again, leaving you alone again in the emptiness of the evening. "Is everything alright?!"

You stood up and looked around, trembling after the vision you just had.

"Wh-where are you now?!" You asked, your voice shaking. "W-was it you I just saw? Did you touch me?!"

His voice was as shaky as yours.

"I...I don't know what just happened..." He moved back, looking at his hands then back at you. He knew that something strange was going on.

"Was it you?" You stammered. "W-with the white hair and all?"

He nodded, then remembered you couldn't see him and let out a weak _'yeah_.' 

You started walking towards the Voice, a hand in the air, looking for that same boy who had just appeared and disappeared in front of you few seconds ago few seconds ago, but nothing.

Nothing more than frosty air and snowflakes. 

"Wha...Are you still here?" You waited a minute. 

No answer. 

"...Hey?..." You walked clumsily in all directions, your hand still in the air, trying to grasp something like a sweater or a man's arm.

Still nothing.

You sat back on the bench, shivering. _  
_

_"What the hell just happened?! Am I having visions now?... Impossible...I **felt** his hands on me." _

You kept sitting for half an hour, the young man's pale blue eyes still in your mind, not knowing if it was all due to your imagination or the fatigue caused by work.

_"...I am crazy. I can't fight against it."_

You decided to get back home and get some rest. You'd still wait a week before talking about your issues to anyone, just as planned. 

No sign of the Voice as you headed home. No sign either when you stood at your doorstep, staring at the emptiness of your street covered with snow and ice. You huffed, your breath turning into a warm mist reminding you of the coldness of December. Christmas had passed, but you could still see through the windows the happy families sharing a meal, a sparkly Christmas tree for background. You smiled and opened the door to get in, but took a last look outside as the wind whistled a little bit more, and you blinked as snowflakes reached your face.

The usual tingling feeling made its way in your chest, andyou quickly got in and closed the door. 

_"That's enough paranormal activity for today."_ , you thought.

 

* * *

 

The bearded man let out a gasp as he heard the door slam against the wall. He turned to see a panting young man, his bright blue eyes wide open, just like his mouth. The man frowned.

"For God's sake, Jack, don't you know how to open a door?" He chuckled, but stopped as he saw the look on the young man's face. "Hey, kid, is everything alright?"

Jack kept staring at him, out of breath, then put a hand on his forehead and slid down the wall. The older man raised an eyebrow and squatted next to him.

"Jack?" 

"She...she sees me." He mumbled. "Nicholas, she _sees_ me."

Nicholas sighed and sat next to the boy. 

"That girl again? Jack..."

"I'm _not_ imagining things! Something happened... _Something I can't explain_..." He looked at the man with questioning eyes. 

He scratched his beard and told the young man to stand up.

"Let's have a walk."

Jack followed him silently, holding his wooden staff in his right hand. He looked around: Christmas had just passed yet the yetis were already working on the gifts for the next year. He smiled.

"It's a big deal for you, isn't it?" He asked. "This whole Christmas stuff."

Nicholas let out a friendly chuckle. 

"Every time you come here, you ask the same thing. And every time, I answer the same thing: YESlad, YES." He strongly patted the younger man's back. "Now. Tell me more about that situation of yours. That lass, what's her name again..?"

"I don't know."

"Uh, alright. We'll name her..." He looked around and saw a yeti sewing a teddy bear. " _Squishy_. Let's name her Squishy."

Jack raised an eyebrow and kept following the man through his workshop.

"Squishy?"

"Yes. Squishy. Now tell me about what happened."

He told him what had happened. The man frowned.

"Wait, so you mean...She could only see you when you _touched_ her?"

Jack nodded.

"And as soon as you took your hands off, she couldn't?"

"Yeah." He mumbled. "But there's something I don't understand..."

The boy pushed an elf with the back of his hand and sat on a table.

"How come was I able to put my hands on her? She _obviously_ doesn't believe in Jack Frost, how could I―"

"Have you ever used your magic on her?"

The man looked at him, frowning. 

"What?"

"Your magic, your swooshy sparkly stuff." He said, pointing Jack's staff. "Did you ever directly use it on her?"

The boy thought for a second.

"Not directly. I used it to deviate a car that was going to hit her and a little boy." He scratched the back of his head. "Why?"

"..." Nicholas stared into infinity for a while, then shook his head. "Nevermind." 

Jack opened his mouth to ask what the man was thinking about, but was quickly shushed. 

"Jack." He told him, looking right into the boy's eyes. "I need you to stay with that girl for a while. She might need your protection."

The young man raised his eyebrows, then guffawed.

" _Protection_ ? You must be kidding, right?" He stopped laughing. "Who's that girl anyway to deserve such a treatment? What has she done?"

Nicholas shook his head again and put a strong hand on Jack's shoulder.

"See, Jack, you're not asking the good questions here." He removed his hand from the boy's shoulder. "Trust me, Jack, and do as I say. You'll only have the answers if you ask the good questions. I must leave you now, I have something to do."

The white-haired young man frowned once again at the enigmatic tone of his voice, then rolled his eyes. 

"I guess I can't expect a satisfying answer now, huh?"

"Trust me lad, I'd like to answer you. Unfortunately, I am not even sure of the answer I should give you." He huffed. "Promise me you'll do like I said and stay with that lass... _Squishy_ , for a while?"

Jack hesitated, then nodded.

"Good boy." Nicholas said, ruffling the young man's hair.

And he left the boy alone between the piles of toys.

 


End file.
